I loved Twilight Princess, though. I felt it did the best job so far of bringing Hyrule to life, in a way.

I feel like the thing that BotW was missing the most was some good overworld music. TP has some really good Overworld music, but BotW's best pieces are for the Cinematic Events, Shrines, Dungeons & Dragons. I mean, any overworld music would've gotten old by the point where you'd even be ready to pull the Master Sword. But still, the minimalist BGM should've given way somewhat as you progressed through the game.

That being said, I'll agree on the point that TP did the best job at bringing Hyrule Castle Town to life, but I just simply cannot agree to some of the other locations like Kakariko or the Hidden Village. Kakariko never felt like anything more than a wide spot on the road despite the fact that you're constantly going back there for some reason or another, whereas the Hidden Village is both a Kakariko pallet swap and a one-time Wild West Shootout gimmick (granted, there are few better location gimmicks than a Wild West Shootout) tied to an overly long fetchquest. The overworld itself never felt like anything more than barren to me, but then I never did bother to do the Poe Hunting sidequest beyond the first reward.

That being said, yeah. BotW does have a bunch of tiny issues that add up over time. But unlike say, Sword of Mana, where the game is just completely dwarfed by the flaws and issues and screw-ups, BotW feels like they underscore just how amazing the rest of the game actually is. Like yeah, it absolutely sucks to have a Silver Lizfols decide to park out on the water and snipe at you with its Hydro Pump, especially since killing it means it drops its booty beneath the waves where it becomes lost and gone forever, but if there so happens to be a metallic object like a metal crate, and you have the patience, and a favorable coastline, you can perform a dredging operation to retrieve the enemy's loot. You could probably even do it with a metal sword or shield if nothing else is available. And that's not the only kind of shenanigan you can pull in this game.

That would have been cool if the overworld theme was like the dungeon themes, in that a new layer of music was added every time you did something significant. And each province of the map had its own theme. I do like the minimal soundtrack on the field, but some of the dungeon and boss themes are the best this series has ever had.

I have to agree with Aeolus on TP. It definitely nailed some things (i.e. Castle Town, dungeons and bosses, and cinematics), but also missed it in several areas (i.e. an excessively long tutorial that not only teaches you a slightly modified OoT control scheme followed by even more tutorial to teach you the wolf form, items that have very little use outside of their dungeons, and a lot of linearity). I guess you could say TP is a highly polished OoT, but it also didn't do enough to differentiate itself from its predecessor. I can't completely blame Nintendo for this as all fans wanted after Wind Waker was another OoT and that is what Nintendo delivered. Unfortunately by then OoT, while revolutionary, was outdated.

Alright then, I have finally beaten BotW...after all my whining I don't think it will come as a surprise that well, I did not care for it. I can't bring myself to say it was the worst Zelda game I have ever played, but I just did not find it enjoyable. I think my biggest complaint was that the combat was just not interesting to me. Thinking about it, I'm not completely sure when the last Zelda game where I truly enjoyed the combat was (maybe TP?), but this one felt particularly bad to me.

The world felt empty, and the combat discouraged me from fighting the few roaming monsters I encountered (hurray for Majora's Mask). Not that it mattered since I only missed out on monster drops (for armor upgrades) by avoiding them.

I'm not going to dock it harshly for the weak story since that is pretty much a staple of the series, but there a lot of head scratching decisions regarding the story.

Like I feel like they were going for two different stories with the divine beasts, and either one would have been stronger than the one we got. On one hand they seemed to be going for a new guard by setting up clear inheritors for the Champion's will with the person of the corresponding race that helps you take down the beast...but then they transition to the old Champions taking over despite having clear successors. If they were going to have the Champions do it, then I don't get why they were killed. Would have been more interesting for them to stick around.

Side note, anyone else find that the voice volume was way too low? Some of the times it was so low that I wasn't sure if they were talking or playing Fi's voice clip because it was too soft for me to make out words.

Overall, I probably would give this game a 6.5/10. As I have said before, I do not get the hype at all.

I just finished finding all the DLC items from this expansion pack. They look cool and all, but none of them can be upgraded and they don't do anything unique or original at all. Major disappointment. I am enjoying Trial of the Sword at least. Hopefully the next expansion pack will be more worthwhile.

I just finished finding all the DLC items from this expansion pack. They look cool and all, but none of them can be upgraded and they don't do anything unique or original at all. Major disappointment. I am enjoying Trial of the Sword at least. Hopefully the next expansion pack will be more worthwhile.

Majora's Mask is sort of unique since it combines all the monster masks together meaning you can walk into a group of multiple monster types without worrying about some of them attacking you.

Also the Travel Medallion is completely unique...not that I ever used it.